to the 2009 World Telekinesis

Transcription

2009 World Telekinesis Competition
a Noxious Sector project
2009 World Telekinesis Competition. Ted Hiebert, Doug Jarvis, Curators
© 2009 (Ted Hiebert, Doug Jarvis)
Curators: Ted Hiebert, Doug Jarvis
Contributors: Jennifer Fisher, Gerry Gauthier
ISBN 978-1-897243-60-2
Catalogue of an exhibition held at:
Ministry of Casual Living
1442 Haultain Street
Victoria, BC
Canada, V8R 2J9
www.ministryofcasualliving.ca
Gerry Gauthier, Director/Curator
May 29 – June 13, 2009
Perro Verlag Books by Artists
Site 19, C21 Quadrant
Mayne Island, British Columbia
CANADA V0N 2J0
www.peroverlag.com
This catalogue is published through the support of the Canada Council for
the Arts. .
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
5
Directors Foreward
7
Telekinetic Aesthetics - Jennifer Fisher 11
Project Statement
19
Rules of the Competition
23
Images from the Installation
27
Team Profiles
39
Organizer Profiles
105
Match Results
109
Acknowledgements
The World Telekinesis Competition is a forum for speculative action – an
organized tournament event in which teams from around the world engage in psychic competition to remotely influence the behavior of a candle.
Matches are played by lighting a candle at the centre of the official game
board, at an agreed-upon time, signaling the beginning of the game. A
match lasts for one hour, or until the game candle is extinguished, whichever comes first. The object of the game is to have the wax from the candle
drip onto the opposing team’s side of the game board. This objective is to
be accomplished by remote telekinetic influence. The sinning team will be
awarded the World Telekinesis Competition trophy, which they will get to
keep until next year’s competition.
The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition was held at the Ministry of Casual Living in Victoria, BC from May 29 to June 13, 2009. The second annual
competition, the 2009 WTC built on the inaugural 2008 event, presenting
the competition at street-level viewing and including both teams rejoining
the competition from last year, and a host of new participants – in all 28
teams from five countries.
Noxious Sector Arts Collective would like to thank all competing teams
and individuals for their interest and participation, as well as writers Jennifer Fisher and Gerry Gauthier for their intellectual engagement with the
2009 WTC. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the Ministry
of Casual Living and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Finally, congratulations to the Center for Paraspeculative Study, winners of
the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition.
Ted Hiebert & Doug Jarvis
(Victoria, August 2009)
Directors Foreward
Cultivating the Imaginary
2009 world Telekinesis Competition
During the late 1960s Robert Smithson proposed a set of low-lying sculptural forms to be installed in the landing area of the Dallas-Fort Worth
Regional Airport in Texas. The sculptural forms were to be seen from an
aerial vantage point. Smithson had conceptualized an art form that situated
itself outside of what seemed practical in perspectival terms, disrupting the
viewing process. “Aerial art can… give limits to space, but also the hidden
dimensions of time apart from natural duration-an artificial time that can
suggest galactic distance here on earth…non-visual space and time begins
to shape an esthetic based on the airport as an idea.” (1) It is the perspective, or framing of the subject, that offers a unique engagement with the
seemingly mundane. Noxious Sector takes this subtle, yet arguably necessary shift in perspective with the paranormal. As with most paranormal
activities, telekinesis is housed by no one field of study. It occupies a marginal field because of the difficulty afforded in quantifying or materializing
substantial “hard” evidence; because of this it is fertile ground for Noxious
Sector’s inquiry. A number of contemporary practices develop out of these
slippages in qualification, fields that require further probing outside the
traditional sciences. Mining the paranormal is the realm of Noxious Sector.
The gallery, in the formation of a forum for paranormal activity - operating
as a theoretical laboratory - houses a cultivating set of circumstances for
competitive telekinesis. Taking place in the storefront gallery of the Ministry of Casual Living, behind a 5x5’ single-pane window, the candle-lit
telekinetic arena is established. The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition
utilizes the window as a framing device – it offers a distinct boundary for
the game play. The window squarely defines the prescribed competition
grounds while providing an open-to-the-public arena. These parameters
Directors Foreward
also address the nature of viewer interaction in the window gallery. In as
much as the glass mediates a physically intimate – dimensional – experience with the artwork, the telekinetic process forgoes a necessity for physically proximate engagement. Like the mediated viewing arrangement of
the proposed aerial works of Robert Smithson, the boundaries of the viewing experience are not simply limitations, but the ocular/physical perspective through which the work is framed and therefore illuminated. These
constructs may help to elucidate an active approach to the contextualizing
of the viewer and the work.
In his introductory text from last year’s WTC catalogue, Ted Hiebert points
to a passivity that is crucial to understanding WTC as a necessary inquiry
into the unexplored potential of imagination. Hiebert claims that society
fosters, “a hesitance to engage the possibilities of failure and irrelevant
activities,” leaving the status quo unchallenged in a larger sense. The conditions become much more fertile as these modes passivity are brought
into play. It is in a competitive forum such as WTC that these hesitancies not only become spotlighted, but the outcomes of the imagined possibilities are uprooted. It is not such a stretch to consider the possibilities
of telekinetic power, we all possess the desire and belief required to will
something with the mind, and perhaps out of desperation, we suspend our
belief, expanding our imaginations, subsequently creating conditions in
the mind for telekinetic practice. But in the on-demand performance conditions of WTC, without desperation or that crucial suspended grasp of our
own realities we are left to consider telekinesis as a part of the imagination process. During competition the candles will burn, the wax will melt,
factors will inevitably offer uncertainty. The point is not to prove the act
is manifesting, but to prove that it is a factor among both the certain and
uncertain elements at play.
Telekinesis is employed within a strict set of rules and game play for
this competition, facilitating the successful execution of the tournament
schedule. So why are the results of a dripping candle, which occur with or
without the element of the paranormal, set to inform our understanding of
telekinesis? As the melted wax pours it will definitively rest on a winner.
Possibility will exist with every round - with every winner. The candle
wax, in this sense, can be seen as a lubricant in the telekinetic process.
8
Directors Foreward
Telekinesis is necessarily a factor in as much as it is given a realm to exist.
As long as the physical properties of the candle wax are in process the possibilities for speed-of-imagination influence are at play. In this competition
as the candle wax settles back into its stasis it holds-still all potential for
telekinetic influence.
Noxious Sector’s (informal) inquiry often engages more with the questions
themselves - with the validity and nature of the inquiry. Through its public
display of tournament activities WTC 2009 presents a process of paranormal activity for audience and participant alike to reconsider.
Gerry Gauthier
August 2009
Notes
1. Smithson, Robert. The Collected Writings of Robert Smithson, Edited by Jack
Flam, Berkeley. University of California Press, 1996.
9
Telekinetic Aesthetics
Jennifer Fisher
Telekinesis, as a form of agency involving remote force, falls within the
extrasensory modality of tactility. While the ability to grasp, move, and
exert pressure on objects is generally attributed to the faculty of touch,
it takes on particular significance when operating at a distance. Technologies extending the senses that once were only conceivable in the
realm of the paranormal are now commonplace. Clairvoyant, or “far seeing” visual capabilities, became “television.”1 Clairaudience, or hearing voices from afar, became the “telephone.”2 However, “telekinesis,”
the mental manipulation of objects at a distance, has yet to develop such
conventional media.3 The power of “mind over matter” -- the deployment of cognition to impart kinetic force on remote objects -- remains
within the speculative zone of extra-somatic technologies and practices.
Since the turn of the millennium, the art world has experienced a paranormal turn, which is evidenced by the revivified interest in aura photography
by the artist Chrysanne Stathacos, ARCHIVE’s “Art After Death” audio recordings of mediums channeling departed artists, as well as the art historical
renaissance in spirit photography represented by Louis Kaplan’s book, The
Strange Case of William Mumler Spirit Photographer, and Alison Ferris’
exhibition The Disembodied Spirit.4 Other artists such as Marina Abramovic have experimented with psychometry, a form of psychic touch to discern
the particular energies and legacies of ethnographic artifacts at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.5 A prescient example of the actual use of telekinesis in art is Yves Klein’s La Vide, 1958, in which he “projected” paintings
into an empty gallery using esoteric Rosicrucian meditation techniques.6
Like Klein, Noxious Sector proposes the gallery as a mediumistic space to
frame telekinetic agency.7 The objective of the World Telekinesis Competition, in the words of the curators, is “to remotely influence the movement of
objects through the powers of psyche alone.”8 Teams at far-flung locations
must use only “psychic energy” to kinetically affect the candle.9 Players’ ef-
11
forts are evidenced in the flow of wax on the competition game board, featuring an off-kilter design that confounds rationality with vertiginous affect.
Brown and blue sides are assigned to opposing teams, and the axis aligned
both remotely and in the gallery to the cardinal points. After each hour-long
round, the measurement of wax is determined by the referee. The competition
functions by elimination rounds akin to curling until a winner is achieved.10
Telekinesis can be distinguished within the continuum of extra-sensory
agency by its physical mediumship; that is, it combines embodied and disembodied energies to impact on material objects. Telekinesis spans different
discourses including science, entertainment, parapsychology, mysticism,
and shamanism. In the realm of scientific investigation, acts of telekinesis
are known as psychokinesis, or PK, which studies how the mind can move
objects without actual contiguous touch. A 1934 study by Dr. Joseph Banks
Rhine of Duke University, for example, researched how mental projections
might influence the roll of dice.11 Psychokinesis has been demonstrated
within clinical conditions by renowned Russian medium Nelya Mikhailova, who came to light in the west after the 1970 publication of Psychic
Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. Her reputed abilities to spin compass
needles, roll cigarettes across tables, and move full pitchers of water were
confirmed by over forty scientists. Likewise, Anna Rasmusen, a physical
medium from Sweden, engaged in controlled experiments between 192228 that involved swinging a specific pendulum from an array of differently
weighted pendulums enclosed in glass upon request.12 Israeli-British Uri
Geller became a superstar in the seventies and continues to garner publicity for his apparent abilities to bend spoons and stop watches.13 He remains active in the celebrity circuit despite being the target of skepticism.
The World Telekinesis Competition, however, does not permit such “professional” psychics, requiring all participants to be amateurs. While the
event assumes an informal and lighthearted exploration of psychic cognitive function, its curators emphatically claim that the competition is
“no joke.”14 The promotion of a playful, yet competitive, atmosphere, as
well as encouraging telekinesis amongst amateurs, is similar to the PK research methodology of Jack Houck. Since 1981, Houck has given hundreds of “spoon bending” parties, where he found that a highly emotional
festive mood was conducive to telekinesis.15 In the same way, the telekinetic performance framed by Noxious Sector carries the objective to
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“seriously entertain” into a form of activity akin to an alert kind of play.
The winners of the 2009 competition were “The Center for Paraspeculative
Study,” which includes artists Nate Larson, Marni Shindelman, and LaRonika Thomas, who trained for the competition by completing the workshop “Understanding Out-of-Body Experiences” at the Spiritualist enclave
of Lilydale in western New York.16 Reflecting on their intuitive approach
during the event, Shindelman’s states, “I trusted that I would be capable of
moving the flame if only I did not try to force it, or try too hard. Therefore
I went about my day as usual, thinking of the competition if it came into
my mind.”17 A similarly mild objective is indicated by Larson, who relates,
“I would make myself aware of the impending competition, but found that
the best results would happen when I let the subconscious mind go to work
on the match.”18 Perhaps less festive than Houck’s PK bashes, the mood
of the World Telekinesis Competition appears to be similarly easy-going.
Telekinetic intention, whether embodied in the laissez-faire attitude of the
2009 winning team or the laser-honed cognitive gymnastics of physical
mediums discussed above, is utterly absent in the case of poltergeist activity where telekinesis operates seemingly “out of control,” with erratically flying spoons, levitating furniture or hurtling clods of earth.19 Poltergeist phenomena has been attributed to troubled or emotionally repressed
youths in their teens and early twenties in whose vicinity mischievous
disturbances happen.20 Poltergeist induced telekinesis therefore apparently stems from unconscious, rather than cognizant, human agents.21 Other
acts of telekinesis pertain to the remote movement of objects by “spirits,” such as a clock stopping at the moment of someone’s death, or instances of teleportation, where objects seemingly disappear, later to rematerialize in surprising places. In Indian mystical traditions, there are many
stories of spiritual masters whose siddhis, or powers, encompass forms
of telekinesis. For example, Sai Baba of Bangalore is famous for materializing objects including lingam stones, sacred ash, coins and jewelry.
Shamanic telekinesis amongst the First Nations in Canada provides an
interesting antecedent for the technologically-mediated shamanism of
2Bears and Hiebert.22 The phenomena of “tent shaking” was reported in
1879 among the Blackfoot Nation on Red Deer River by an official for the
North West Mounted Police. As Sir Cecil Denny sat in a shaman’s tent,
13
it rocked dramatically and hovered a foot off the ground while the medicine man remained seated serenely smoking his ceremonial pipe. Denny
checked from time to time for an accomplice, but could find none.23 In
a similar account in 1929, A. H. Black, a Hudson’s Bay Company official at White Sands on the Mackenzie River Basin, observed tent shaking by a renowned shaman named August. Prior to August’s arrival, Black
carefully examined the wigwam’s construction and found it secure. Yet as
soon as the shaman entered, the tent started to shake violently wherein an
uncanny conversation ensued between the shaman and a seemingly disembodied voice at the top of the enclosure. After August exited, Black
again examined the tent and found it as firmly tied and rooted as it had
been before the performance.24 During the same period, the paranormal
performance of tent shaking finds a compelling parallel in the telekinetic happenings of the American spiritualist séance: e.g., levitating tables
and flying trumpets. Both the shaman’s tent and the spiritualist medium’s
cabinet (which was a curtained-off section of a room), mark a distinct
space. As well, there is an extra-somatic similarity between Black’ account of the simultaneity of shamanic telekinesis and “spirit voices” at
White Sands, and the flying tables and “direct voices” of the séance.25
Like the telekinetic antecedents above, the gallery at the Ministry of Casual
Living was staged as a discrete mediumistic space. The board and burning candle were arranged in front of the gallery’s large window that functioned like a proscenium allowing passersby to witness the event. During
the competition, the gallery was closed, and, in this way, it was “set apart”
from normal gallery traffic flow due to the necessity of keeping conditions
stable. Because drafts could disrupt the candle, people were not permitted
to enter the gallery. The gallery was thus reframed in terms of its normal
viewing function, and reconfigured to prioritize remote telekinetic agency
and perception. The sociality of the event and creative response of contestants from diverse locations marked another key aspect of its aesthetics.
According to Noxious Sector, “The competition is a strategic way to (1) involve other interested parties without necessarily influencing the manner in
which they participate and (2) to assess the relative efficacy of telekinetic
models deployed by the various participating teams.”26 The teams included
kung fu practitioners, architects, chefs, artists and a slew of alter egos. The
“Psychic Amateurs,” for example, claimed to be deceased entities practicing
telekinesis from “beyond the grave,” while the “Plasmavatar Metaverse” in14
cluded three psychic avatars from the virtual world Second Life. Likewise,
team profiles comprised an array of allegedly psychic animals, a goldfish
named Ghandi, and a feline telepath named Kiwi Katz. The event website
presents a gallery of inventive photo-shopped identities as well as a constellation of heraldic logos, incorporating an array of paranormal, psychotrophic, erotic, militaristic, anime, ancient Egyptian, and camp iconography.
Whether the paranormal agency performed for the World Telekinesis Competition is credible, virtual, or simply magical thinking, it invokes the potential of intuitive teamwork and extra-sensory touch. Configuring remote
players and framing the gallery as a mediumistic space provide an occasion
for telekinetic aesthetics in the form of collective force: how it feels, how
it is engaged, how it is imagined, and how it connects.
Jennifer Fisher is a curator and writer who teaches at York University in
Toronto. www.displaycult.com.
NOTES:
1. At the end of her life, Christian mystic Clare Offreduccio (born in 1194), saw the
vision of a distant liturgy on her bedroom wall. She was declared the “patron saint
of television” by Pope Puis XIII in 1958. See Emily D. Edwards, Metaphysical
Media: The Occult Experience in Popular Culture, Carbondale: Southern Illinois
University Press, 2005, 18.
2. Similarly, the telegraph, and telematic media (which combine telecommunication and computers) involve receiving messages from afar. See Roy Ascott, Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art Technology and Consciousness, edited
and with an introduction by Edward A. Shanken, Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2005.
3. Haptic interfaces that enable the remote sensing of the pressure and position of
touch in the form of the arm of the space shuttle, or surgery, are mechanical.
4. Chrysanne Stathacos: Invisible Colours, with an essay by Peter Nagy, Delhi:
Nature Morte, 2002; ARCHIVE, “Yves Klein Speaks,” Art After Death, Vol. 2,
Hollywood, CA: ARCHIVE, 2002; Louis Kaplan, The Strange Case of William
Mumler Spirit Photographer, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008;
Alison Ferris, curator, The Disembodied Spirit, Brunswick, Maine: Bowdoin Col-
15
lege Museum of Art, 2003.
5. Marina Abramovic performed psychokinesis during her performance Clean the
Mirror, at the Pitt River Museum, Oxford, in 1995. Jim Drobnick and I discussed
the piece with her in her studio before beginning our interview for Technologies of
Intuition, Toronto: YYZBOOKS and Winnipeg: MAWA, 2006, 141-153.
6. Bruce Altshuler, The Avant-Garde in Exhibition: New Art in the Twentieth Century, New York: Abrams, 1994, 192-197.
7. Noxious Sector’s collaborators, Ted Hiebert, Doug Jarvis and Jackson 2Bears,
have used a range of extra-rational aesthetic methodologies including dousing, shamanism, possession, haunting, and spirit photography to explore realms of what
they describe as the “imaginative, the paranormal and the absurd.” Significantly,
the speculative aspect of Noxious Sector’s aesthetic incorporates the “noxious”
as a counterpart to the “beautiful,” and “failure” as a counterpart to “success.”
Hiebert, Jarvis and 2Bears also maintain independent practices. See http://www.
noxioussector.net.
8. http://www.noxioussector.net, 4.
9. Psychic conduct is defined by the curators as “telekinesis, channeling, remote
viewing, ESP, astral projection, psychic projection, wishing, intending, concentrating.” See the competition rules on the Noxious Sector website. http://www.noxioussector.net.
10. The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition was staged at the Ministry of Casual
Living, a Victoria, B.C. artist-run gallery.
11. Raymond Buckland, The Spirit Book: The Encyclopedia of Clairvoyance,
Channeling and Spirit Communication, Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2005, 257-8,
330; Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron
Curtain, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970.
12. Buckland, 330.
13. See http://www.urigeller.com.
14. The competition rules on the website state that the event is amateur only. Professional psychics are not eligible.
15. Games were orchestrated where Houck’s guests were invited to first imagine
the flatware bending, and then release their effort and “allow” the spoon to bend.
16
See http://www.jackhouck.com/pk.shtml.
16. Winners for the 2008 World Telekinesis Competition were “The Discriminating
Gentlemen’s Club.”
17. Marni Shindelman, email correspondence with the author, August 23, 2009.
18. Nate Larson, email correspondence with the author, August 23, 2009.
19. The word “poltergeist” was reputedly coined in the fifteenth century by Martin Luther from the German “poltern” for noisy, and “geist” for spirit, to convey
the folkloric mischief of goblins, witches, and ghosts. See Joe Nickell, Entities:
Angels, Spirits, Demons and Other Alien Beings, Amherst, New York: Prometheus
Books, 1995, 79; A.R.G. Owen, Psychic Mysteries of Canada, Toronto: Fitzhenry
and Whiteside, 1975, 23.
20. Certain types of individuals, or “poltergeist agents,” may figure in psychokinetic events, often adolescents who possess intense feelings of frustration, yet repress
aggression. See James McClenon, Wondrous Events: Foundations of Religious
Belief, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, 59.
21. Buckland, 331.
22. Electronic Shamanism is an ongoing collaboration between Jackson 2Bears and
Ted Hiebert.
23. Owen, 10.
24. Owen, 10-11.
25. Owen, 14-15.
26. “Got a Thing on My Mind: The 2008 World Telekinesis Competition, Beyond Robson, January 4, 2008, 2. Viewed at http:www.beyyondrobson.com/
arts/2008/01/got_a_thing_on_my_mind_2008_world_telekinesis_competition/.
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Project Statement
Project Statement
WORLD TELEKINESIS COMPETITION
The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition is an event in which teams
from around the world compete to psychically influence the behavior
of a candle. Players are not expected to be physically present during
competition, but rather will compete remotely from their home locations
around the world. The World Telekinesis Competition is an open event, and
all teams who satisfy the submission requirements have been included in
the competition.
PROJECT STATEMENT
The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition brings together teams from disparate geographic locations to enact their own visions of telekinetic potential in competition with one another, with the ultimate aim of crowning
a singular winning team. The winning team will receive a trophy as well
as bragging rights, both of which will – eventually – be returned for next
year’s competition. The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition is open to
artists, psychics, and otherwise interested parties who are willing to engage
with the competitive framework according to which this tournament will
proceed.
Telekinesis – the remote psychic influence of object behavior – has a
history of controversy and provocation. Neither proven nor dis-proven, the
possibility of remote psycho-kinetic influence remains active as a potentially
relevant force within our current modalities of understanding. We invite
explorations into possible strategies for telekinetic influence – not stated, but
enacted through competitive interaction with other like-minded teams. Stated
otherwise, our mission is not to explore rhetorical strategies for telekinetic
participation but rather to assess the relative merit of any given method of
psychic influence by its equally relative efficacy in a competitive setting.
COMPETITION STRUCTURE
The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition follows basic competitive rules
for multi-team events. Based on an assessment of the number of participating teams, a preliminary competitive structure was randomly determined,
in which 2 teams will compete remotely to psychically influence the
20
Project Statement
behavior of a game candle. The winning team will advance to the
subsequent round while the losing team will be eliminated. This competition structure will continue until only one team is remaining. This team will
be crowned the winner of the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition.
SELECTION OF TEAMS
Noxious Sector Artist Collective – in collaboration with the Ministry of
Casual Living – composed and disseminated an international call for submissions for the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition. Teams responded
to the call for participation on an international level, resulting in the 28
teams, from 5 countries, comprising the tournament.
PARTICIPATION
In order to qualify for participation, teams have satisfied the following
criteria:
1. Teams must be comprised of three (3) individuals.
2. Teams must compose or design or appropriate a team logo for
inclusion in the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition competition
schedule.
3. Each team member must provide a photograph and biographical
statement for inclusion in the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition
competition schedule.
4. Teams must agree to abide by the rules of the competition.
ABOUT NOXIOUS SECTOR
Noxious Sector is a formalized forum for informal inquiry. Dedicated to
the exploration of questions of the imaginative, the paranormal and the
absurd, Noxious Sector attempts to redefine the meaning of artistic
possibility through extended propositions that challenge consensual norms
while also provoking stimulating forums for dialogue and discourse. The
members of the Noxious Sector Arts Collective are Ted Hiebert, Doug
Jarvis and Jackson 2bears. Our past projects can be viewed at
www.noxioussector.net.
21
Rules of the Competition
Competition Rules
DESCRIPTION
This is a game of competitive telekinesis in which two teams compete over
a distance to psychically influence the behavior of a candle. The match is
played by lighting a candle at the centre of the game board, signalling the
beginning of the game. When the candle is extinguished the match is over.
The object of the game is to have the wax from the candle drip onto the opposing team’s side of the board. This objective is accomplished by remote
telekinetic influence.
RULES
1. Eligibility and Scheduling
i. The World Telekinesis Competition (WTC) is an Amateur event.
Professional psychics are not eligible for participation.
ii. Players and teams must conform to submission requirements before being accepted for competition.
iii. Once accepted, it is the responsibility of each team to check the
competition schedule and, where applicable, to maintain communication with WTC officials.
iv. Failure to confirm or respond to official communications from the
WTC will result in the disqualification of the team.
2. Teams
i. Teams are to be comprised of three (3) players.
ii. Team members are not required to compete from the same geographic location; however, it is the responsibility of the team to
coordinate participation times among its composite members.
iii. Teams must agree to follow the rules and guidelines for competition, as set by the WTC.
iv. Gameboards for the competition can be downloaded from the
downloads section of the WTC site. Candles can be purchased by
individual teams for their own training and competitive use. While
the official gameboard and candle will be located in Victoria
(Canada), teams are encouraged to make use of the downloadable
versions for concentration and/or meditative purposes.
24
Competition Rules
3. Matches
i. The date and time of each match will be set by the WTC and confirmed in advance by each team.
ii. Match times will be given in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and
Pacific Standard Time (PST).
iii. All matches will occur in Victoria (BC) Canada at a WTC approved location.
iv. Competition game candles will be of standard tealight variety,
white, non-scented, with the foil housing removed.
v. At the agreed upon time, each team will light their candle and will
compete for the duration of the match.
vi. Each match will last for 60 minutes, or until the game candle is
extinguished, whichever occurs first.
vii. The team that accumulates the most wax on their opponent’s side
of the gameboard will be deemed the winner.
viii. The winner will be determined by a WTC referee at the site of the
competition.
4. Conduct
i. Teams must use only psychic energy to influence the candle.
Psychic energy is defined as mental influence, whether in person
or remotely, and may include such skills as telekinesis, channeling,
remote viewing, esp, astral projection, psychic projection, wishing,
intending, concentrating.
ii. Teams deemed cheating by the referee will be disqualified.
5. Referee
i. The referee will be nominated or chosen by the WTC.
ii. The referee will begin the match by lighting the game candle, and
will end the match after 60 minutes or when the candle is extinguished, whichever occurs first.
iii. The referee will be present for the duration of the competition and
will document the gameboard upon completion of the match.
iv. Results of each competition will be determined by the referee and
made public immediately following the completion of the match.
v. Documentation of match gameboards will be posted on the WTC
website along with the results of the competition.
vi. In cases where the winner is not immediately identifiable, the
25
Competition Rules
referee will consult with WTC officials to determine the outcome
of a match.
6. The Competition
i. The match schedule will be determined in advance of the competition and will be made public on the WTC website.
ii. Two (2) teams will compete in each match, according to the results
of a random draw.
iii. The winning team from each match will advance to the subsequent
round of the competition, and the losing team being eliminated
from the competition.
iv. The winner of the WTC final match will be declared the winner of
the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition.
26
The Exhibition
Installation Image: Ministry of Casual Living
Team Profiles
3GFU (3 Generations of Folk-Us)
2009 World Telekinesis Competition: Team Profile
Us Folks provide 3 Generations of brining collective focus
to the tasks we undertake together. In our own right, each team
member has demonstrated the ability to influence animate and
inanimate objects to move in directions that others would find
impossible to fathom. As a collective, we represent a formidable force, ready to undertake challenges and bring our collective energies to focus creatively on influencing hidden powers
to act on our behalf. 3 Generations of Folks, that’s Us, 3 GFU,
3 Generations of Folk-that’s Us.
40
3GFU (3 Generations of Folk-Us)
Jess Hiebert (Captain): Although the newest member of the team and a relative novice at telekinesis,
Jess already has amazing power to influence people
and objects and have them performing according to
his wishes.
Matt Hiebert: A promising student of the subtle
forms of influence, Matt’s creative way of moving
mountains and providing positive energy gives the
team the stamina it needs to succeed.
Bryan Hiebert: The mentor and anchor of the team,
Bryan has a loooong history with psychic phenomena,
and provides stability and folkus for the team.
41
536 Ministers Of The Ladder
Government-sponsored Canadian Ministers of access paths between sub and meta psychic ontological realms, the mentalists
of 536 east 20th or 536 Ministers Of The Ladder will build
on each floor of the house (top; middle; ground) a psychic amplification chamber using the reflective foil of gold astronaut
blankets found in a rust-eaten washing machine buried under
a plum tree in the south-east corner of our backyard. With the
combined psychic energies of everyone in the house and the
psychic trace-energies of all former residents, 536 Ministers Of
The Ladder will take the trophy.
42
536 Ministers Of The Ladder
Top Floor:
Combined psychic energies and trace-energies
of Experimental Hedonics: Colleen, Sherri, Kathryn, James, James, Christa, Vanessa, Rachel,
Mireille, Leif, Linda, Lyndsay, Julianne, Donato,
Alberto, Nick, Stu, Craig, Natasha.
Middle Floor:
of Experimental Hedonics: Jason, Dawn, Alexei,
Leif, Nick, Robin, Francesca, Kenny, Guinevere,
Roy.
Ground Floor:
of Experimental Hedonics: Neil, Sean, Donato,
James, Leif, Trevor.
43
Baphomet
Team Baphomet is comprised of remote presence specialists who have used medical research to create an amplifier for their individual
powers.
44
Baphomet
Scott Rogers is a multidisciplinary
artist based in Calgary. His projects
and artwork have been shown widely in Canada, as well as internationally in Ireland, Germany and the
United States. His telekinetic experience is wide-ranging, but little
documented, having influenced the
movement and growth of a Lodgepole Pine near Mt. Forbes in
the Canadian Rockies since the
early part of 1993.
Mike
Paget
is
an
artist in Calgary. He currently
works for the Faculty of Medicine as an
educational designer and simulation technician. His portfolio
of video games and drawings
explores the redundancy of limitless choice.
Gummyhead is a carp who has been fed a
unique diet of snails. Each snail he has eaten
has had additional brain cells transplanted
inside of it. These snails have been trained to
respond to certain stimuli, and
their reassemblege inside Gummyhead has leveraged his ability to
amplify telekenesis exponentially.
45
The Barbarians of the Third Hand
mark dahl, underground cultural meta-interstitialist, Ghandi,
the world’s only telepathic Taiwanese fighting fish, and Jacque
Drinkall, the world’s expert on telepathy in art, can together
easily defeat any opponent with their mere images. Ghandi,
through alchemicalistic use of non-bubbly water, can facilitate
telepathic transmission so as to act as a hub that networks the
three artists and synthesises their respective broadcasting fields.
Photographic images, as well as digital video, can be used to
conduct a non-linear liquescence of telekinetic processing. The
three haunto-tele-cultural workers will hereby perform the intrepid manipulation of a candle’s flame. .
46
The Barbarians of the Third Hand
Jacque Drinkall is a transdimensional entity who
has constructed a UFO. She currently resides in
Sydney, Australia (stolen land). Drinkall has worked
in a variety of media including video, sculpture, and
performance. She completed her PhD at UNSW in
the area of telepathy, the paranormal, and unusual
human beliefs in relation to contemporary art and
politics since the 1960s.
mark dahl is a transtatic ontological mutineer based in Vancouver, BC (stolen land).
He has produced a large body of text based
work, much of which has been pasted on
public surfaces and documented. Much of
his practice involves the framing of performative gestures, and the precariousness of
the document. He has studied critical/social/cultural theory for over 7 years.
Ghandi is a finned telepath. He was purchased
by his collaborators in
Sydney and brought to
their hideout where he
eats three pellets two to
three times a day.
47
Brain Elevating Neurotransmissions
Recently formed B.E.NT. is a triad of like minded individuals who
spend most of their time seeking in some form to change the nature
of how they navigate in contemporary society. As we do not yet
understand our future we are all in a quagmire of uncertainty.
The world telekinesis competition is definitely dabbling in the
uncertain and B.E.NT. is well prepared for the challenge.
48
Brain Elevating Neurotransmissions
Mary Patterson is a self-taught ceramic tile mosaicist
and a European trained chef. Her portfolio includes
work for both private and corporate clients. She has
also worked as a commercial tile setter and has forayed into the field of welded metal sculpture. Mary’s
recently published “SPECIAL COOKBOOK” is a
selling better than hotcakes. Mary is a member of the
arts collaborative DEPLETED URANIUM.
Shawn Shepherd is primarily self-taught with an informal education sourced from local artists, books and
travels to art museums in France, Italy, Mexico, and
the USA. Shawn is a multimedia artist whose work
investigates aspects of popular culture such as human identity and information trends. Shawn currently
works and resides in Victoria, BC
Charles Tidler is a playwright, poet, novelist, and
spoken jazz artist. Charles has written over 50 scripts
for stage, radio, TV and film. His plays Blind Dancers
and Straight Ahead have had productions throughout
Canada, in Los Angeles, New York, the Edinburgh
Festival, and London’s West End. Recent work for the
stage includes Red Mango, Rappaccini’s Daughter,
and Tortoise Boy. His novel, Going to New Orleans,
was published to critical acclaim in June, 2004. Achievements include two
National Radio Awards, a Chalmers Outstanding Canadian Play Award,
several Canada Council and B.C. Arts Council awards, and a Governor
General’s Award nomination in drama.
49
Brainal Leakage Dynasty
Practicing telekinesis can be a dirty business. Un-trained, the
powers of the brain can seep out and cause untold damage to
the telekinetic individual and the elements around them. This
paranormal brain leakage seeks to undulate & re-arrange the
patterns of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Wood. Using ancient
techniques of paranormal kung-fu, team Brainal Leakage Dynasty accepts the challenge of the WTC and will not explain
itself or bring any mops.
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Emily the tech: I like soup for lunch and rockin’
out to punk records. I dislike mops. They sense
my telekinetic powers and stay the heck away. I
know kung-fu.
Tony Martin: I live in a co-housing complex
in Courtenay; there aren’t that many of us in N.
America. Most artists live in poverty and have
romantic studios with high ceilings, north facing windows and view of chimney pots. My
studio has a small window and view of a forest
and neighbour’s backyards. If Picasso lived in cohousing he would be evicted for being too self
centered and promiscuous; I will probably be evicted for being too self
centered. The day this was written I was wearing odd shoes. That’s what
co-housing does for you.
Anh Le: While training for this competition, I
encountered the un-spoken dangers and anxieties of telekinesis. I can’t talk about them. This
is a messy business. The forces of paranormality
dictate that I keep 7 pairs of rubber gloves and
43 sets of safety glasses at my residence. Just in
case.
51
The Center for Paraspeculative Study
The Center for Paraspeculative Study is an internationally
operating organization founded on the principles of inquiry and
dedicated to the ongoing analysis of the intersections of varied belief systems. As such, we recently completed “Witness:
A Psychic Collaboration” that uses US government techniques
for remote viewing and psychic espionage to link collaborators
in Rochester, NY and Chicago, IL. Team members trained for
this project by completing the workshop “Understanding Outof-Body Experiences” at the Lily Dale psychic community in
western NY. Our participation in the World Telekinesis Competition will be a natural extension of our progress in this arena
and we intend to use this competition to further develop our
own skills and carefully observe those of others.
52
The Center for Paraspeculative Study
Nate Larson, founder and director of the Center for Paraspeculative study, has conducted
extensive research in Mail-order Miracles, Predictive Dreams, Psychic Photography, Tasseography, EVP, Psychokinesis, Psychic Surgery,
the Shadow People, Divination, and Bilocation,
among many topics. His visual art projects have
been exhibited and written about internationally.
More information and images are available at
www.natelarson.com
Marni Shindelman has been avoiding
her psychic prowess for over twenty-five
years. In 2001, she correctly predicted
every organ donation at her local hospital
in Florida over a period of four months.
Since then she has been working to recover her lost abilities. In 2007, she joined the
Center for Paraspeculative Study where
she has been working on a collaborative
art projects with Nate Larson. www.marnishindelman.com
LaRonika Thomas is an entrepreneurial
dramaturg and freelance writer interested
in the consciousness of cities, airports
and flight attendants, and how celebrities
will save the world. And she has a psychic connection with the mind of Sean
Penn.
53
The Church of Electrons
The Church of Electrons was established as a panspatial network to establish fractaline understanding of electron-based
fascination. We are tied by the electrons that bind us, and we
harness the power of that relationship in our laboratory of psychic alchemy. Infinitely connected through the exchange of
electronic units, scientific inquiry has guided us through many
of our journeys, alongside a deep faith in the powers of electricity, mind control, and chaos magic. Our telepathic connection
has been so strong lately that when we play Trivial Pursuit, it
becomes more like Telepathic Pursuit, so we actually have to
use a counter-telepathy strategy while playing to keep throwing
each other off. Our deep understanding of the labrythian lattices
of telekinetic electronic nanomatter exchange has prepared us
for what promises to be an Interesting Event as we kick your
asses with hot wax splashes.
54
Mistress of techgnosis, The High Priestess Leeane Berger is known throughout
the cosmos as a giver of divine inspiration and mysterious sociocultural influence over countless miles. Her mystical
aura and slamminly psychic wardrobe
has led many to believe that she may well
be Synergy, the all-powerful goddess of
Jem and the Holograms.
The Reverend Carrie Gates practices an
obscure type of telekinetic sorcery through
her intimate fascination with electromagnetic
exchange and mind-controlled distance control of matter. No stranger to wax, the Reverend is an unmoving mover and shaker, steadfast in her dedication to mindful electronic
tomfoolery and her quasi-Vulcanic practice
of mind-melding with inorganic forms.
Her telekinetic abilities rearrange electrons
through their never-ending networks, making space a laughing matter.
House Guru Jeff Morton practices brains and wires. He works
so closely with electricity he can
call it any time of day just to talk.
Jeff’s powers, which earned his
membership in this powerful
telepathic triptych, include supermaking, both e- and i-ray vision,
and invisible wink. Jeff wrote:
“Maybe if I use science... Psych!”
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The Discriminating Gentlemen’s Club
We are The Discriminating Gentleman’s Club, based in Montreal while our membership and activity stretches across the
globe. Although we return to this years WTC as the reigning
Champions of the Mind, we remain amateurs; enthusiastic pursuers of pursuits, lovers of loving the love. The DGC’s interest
in telekinesis is like that of a branch on a tree rooted in the collective toil of our member’s Mind Bear catching fertile Spirit
Salmon in dark rivers of the Mind Forest. We wish to extend
our reach to the various niches of the occult community, where
ever it may be found, be it within the murky depths of the Lakes
of Tranquility or in the lava spewing from the Volcanos of Bastardy. For this competition, three of our members have formed a
team, amongst them is the Club dog, Oliver, not only our hippydippy mascot, but also a displayer of strange talents not yet fully
understood. To ensure our telekinetic pathways are clear of any
psychic interference due to astral projection locating techniques,
we remain in disguise. Its the Black Dog of Led Zeppelin meets
the Impossibilisms of Raveen, and you will get sleepy listening
to our Steganography on the Holophonic Brigdeway to Mordor.
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The Discriminating Gentlemen’s Club
Please visit our website for further information about our club.
www.dgc-cga.org
Michael Doerksen: Known to his legion
as Sabu, Juji, or Corn Popper, this amateurthought pusher hails from the 4 corners of
everywhere, the 24 sides of nowhere, and
the space between the squares where pentangles spin for an eternity. His third eye
appeared on his 13th birthday, celebrated at
The Top of The World, revealing his true
path as an initiate of the Planes and the
Rays and the Hierarchy.
Oliver: woof ruff woof woof ruff
bark woof woof woof growl growl
howl woof woof woof? woof bark
bark...sniff? growl growl woof? pant
pant...lick. grooooowl. HOWL!
Francois Lemuix: FranÁois Lemieux est
membre de la sociÈtÈ quÈbÈcoise de psilogie, un institut qui Ètudie actuellement
les phÈnomËnes comme la tÈlÈkinÈsie et
la tÈlÈpathie, psychokinËse ou psychokinÈsie, je suis la rÈincarnation concurrente
et avouÈe de ThÈodore Flournoy et Henri
Broch. Lemieux vit et travaille ý MontrÈal.
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The Eternal Ministry of Art and Jump
No vision of beauty perhaps, but TEAM EMOAJ is geared up and
standing by! We have been collecting our strength, to a Ministerial
level and above -- and where there is a will, there is an “or”. Last
years competition failure is agent history. As far as the 2008 defeat
we have only one comment, which also is the chosen motto for
TEAM EMOAJ in the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition: “The
true nature of a man is decided in a battle between his conscious
mind and the desires of his subconscious.” That said it is evident
that the team somehow and for some reason sabotaged the whole
game for themselves. perhaps out of misguided chivalry... For
TEAM EMOAJ Telekinesis is as evident as time itself; “we can’t
see it, but we can feel it pass”. And as it also have been said about
the brave, they are the ones that see what they are heading for, but
in spite of all danger they keep going.
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A short note from the Team leader and General manager of TEAM EMOAJ:
“Your future is what lies in front of you, unless you’re going to
the past. In that case your future lies in the past.”
The Minister of Art and Jump is the General Manager
of the team. This means that he generally doesn’t know
how to manage the team. But he tries. The Minister of
Art has jumped into more lakes, rivers and seas than
anyone else in the team dressed in a suite. On his spare
time he likes to chop wood, drive a tractor and redecorate his home. Minister of Art & Jump also believes that
he can enter a transitional state of mind when drinking
beer. This is his firm belief and he has solved more world-problems doing
just that, than anyone else in the team. Even without beer he’s a constant
source of good ideas. He has the solution for illegal online downloads, but
no one listens... As a child he could bend light and move stars on the night
skies by will. As a sprouting teenager he listened to mind-expanding music
as Pink Floyd, Ultravox and Pete Shelley.
Mr Black Cupid has a long tradition and history of
playing with peoples minds and for obnoxious behaviour in general. He is a very stubborn person. He still is
a modest man and withholds a jest-ful non-professional
attitude. I’m in it for the sheer fun, he says. “And if
I can confusious a few minds along the way, hell I’m
happy to be at assistance.” Some think he’s the dark
horse in the team. Others know they are right. He’s
been known to whip a few behinds back into shape and never take no for
an answer. This has caused some problems in the future, but perhaps he’ll
change his stubborn and mysterious ways and become more futile and reccontinued on next page...
59
onciling. But he doubt’s it. When people agrees with him, he gets the feeling of being wrong. He can be very charming, when he wants. Mr Cupid
loves to contemplate in the sun with barely no clothes at all. He can do that
for weeks...
Maestro Axwik is the orchestrator of the team. The
fine-tuned psyche of this man is incredible. He likes to
fiddle about and just sit for hours contemplating. He is
never in a hurry, he is always patient. He never cross
a line (physically) and the talk about the theft of the
crown jewels is utter nonsense. Maestro Axwik never
underestimates the power of very stupid people in large
groups and think that if the supernatural didn’t exists - it
would have to be invented. Maestro once said “God is the most ignorant
person I know, he ignores every prayer I’ve ever made”. It was after that remark he [Maestro] started to do as he pleased and started to alter the world
around him in a totally intuitive telepathic and telekinesis way. His sense of
fair-play stops him from rigging games to win him immense fortunes and
he leaves the politicians alone. No one can mess up things for themselves
worse than they already do, he says.
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London United Psychic Club
Human beings are inventive; we are aware of many different competitive applications of the human psychic faculty, mostly within
the sphere of telekinesis. And we must suppose that like other social
products, such as legal systems, competitions unknown to us have
existed. Certainly, we expect new psychic sports and competitions
in the future, again, with an emphasis on the telekinetic. This brings
to mind two considerations. First, a factual matter: the large presence that psychic phenomena (and games in general) have in the
social life of human beings. Second, the task of providing a unified theoretical framework for understanding psychic competition;
that is, some cogent whole for indefinite possible actual instances
that can encompass all conceptual representations of the different
kinds of psychic competition. The first suggests psychological and
biological determinants, not necessarily separated, driving human
beings to compete psychicly and provide telekinesis with personal
and social value. The second seeks a framework or perspective for
considering the obvious differences among different competitions.
continued on next page...
61
Born in Connecticut to a traditional
Catholic family, Christian Kuras
attended parochial schools most of
his life in Hamden, Connecticut.
Married at a young age, he became
a father of two sons, Scot and David, in his early twenties. He lived
a very traditional New England life
until his divorce at age 31. It was
during this time he went to see a
psychic who told him, “You should
be giving me a psychic reading. You are very spiritually gifted. I see you
going to California and becoming a healer and teacher using all your gifts
for many people throughout the world.” At the time, Christian did not realize how prophetic that message was. He did indeed move to California in
1986 and from the moment he arrived, his spiritual teachers were placed in
his path. He began competing in various telekinetic competitions and was
soon recognised as a leading light.
Emily Heath was born on 6th
March 1966 in Ambridge, England,
the fourteenth child of Damian
Heath, a senior lecturer in Zoology
at the local University, and Sylvia,
a teacher. Best known as guitarist,
vocalist and writer, she is also renowned for her psychic and telekinetic work on governmental and
education ministry projects.
62
Duncan Mackenzie was born in
Lochlokrie, Scotland, in 1964. His
father, Ernest, was a milkman for
over thirty years and was awarded
a certificate when he retired. At the
age of ten, MacKenzie received
a scholarship and went to the local Grammar School. Here he had
daily speech lessons and secretly
discovered his telekinetic powers.
After five years he was awarded
‘The School Certificate’, largely recognised as the stepping stone to a
governmental programme to develop young people with a strong psychic
faculty. At the age of fifteen he went to the local art school and after two
years he was deemed ‘Intermediate’. After two further years studying art
he was awarded ‘The National Diploma of Design (in art)’. He was then
conscripted into the army’s paranormal research unit, where he attained no
rank but was given continual employment for several years. Since leaving
his native land in unrecorded circumstances, he has re-emerged in Chicago
USA as a fixture on the Psychic Rodeo Circuit.
63
The Malevenia Analysticians
History would have you believe that the Malevenia Analysticians bowed
out of last year’s World Telekinesis Competition in the first round, to
“puppets” no less. Ha-ha-ha, how fitting. Yet disturbing rumours persist,
perpetuated mostly by those earnest dorks over at the “Telekinesis Truth
Movement”, that last year’s competition was a ruse, that in fact a massive
psychic cover-up was enacted, and that even your living memory is not
to be trusted. We, the Malevenia Analysticians, do hereby enter the 2009
World Telekinesis Competition to set the record straight: it’s all TRUE, we
in fact WON last year’s competition!
Entering into the contest, our minds were focused on the task at hand. Subsequent to our cakewalk victory, however, and allowing our minds to once
again broadly scan the energy universe for essential knowledge, we began
to fully comprehend not only how our ongoing covert not-for-profit operations would be compromised by the ensuing publicity, but in fact how the
world itself would be made to suffer for the failure of our cause. Hence,
we made the responsible decision to plant what has come to be referred to
64
as the “official story” into the minds of all involved. Devising this fictional
defeat was distasteful to us, and a drain on our fantastic energy levels, but
the alternative might have proven dangerous to our many psychic agents
(pawns) in the field. We have lived with the results of our own intervention for the past year, and with each passing moment bile has collected,
disdain has mounted, and malevolence has become so acute that we have
taken steps to submerge operations, reinforce the perimeters and gird our
metaphorical loins in order to win the 2009 competition unfettered. That’s
right, you heard it here first, we have decided to allow ourselves the due
entitlement of victory -- WE WILL ALLOW OURSELVES OUR RIGHTFUL WIN IN THE 2009 WORLD TELEKINESIS CHAMPIONSHIPS!
The Malevenia Analysticians remain a potent triumvirate that brings together the forces of mind control, black magic, and good intentions. Our
team is made up of an ESP prodigy, a Ouija master with undisclosed ties to
the government, and a professionally trained assistant with a broad range
of mental and physical skills. Collectively, we have chosen the 2009 World
Telekinesis Competition as the proper occasion to open up an unprecedented can of mental whoop-ass in what is sure to be remembered as the
ultimate conquering vindication of all time.
David LaRiviere: At age two LaRiviere
earned the dubious distinction of being the
youngest Nazi scientist to be transplanted
into the American military industrial complex as a part of “operation paperclip.” Since
that time he has had a finger in nearly every
pie: hanging out on grassy knolls, chopperlifting massive quantities of cocaine into
the US to fund the Contras, and, of course,
George W. Bush. As recent as 2006, with the
aid of various double-identities, LaRiviere
conspired to launch www.mkultra-foods.
com (which was further developed by yo
mama if you think it that easy and the Department of Unnamed Scienfascist Doublespeakers USD). The development of a web presence enabled
LaRiviere to channel his formidable powers through the internet-- the most
proliferate series of tubes known to science. To be sure “nutrition” consticontinued on next page...
65
tutes a certain cutting edge of behaviour modification technology; this is
the good work of MKULTRA-Foods. However the “maestro of mischief”
will not be satisfied until every phone is tapped, every stoned overturned,
every goat stared at, and every spoon bent. Today LaRiviere lives in Saskatoon and works by day as the unassuming Artistic Director of PAVED Arts.
By night, becoming radicalized into inertia, the artist has focused on the
Ouija, hatching various plans while indulging in personal amounts of LSD
and electroshock therapy. From the range of such activities LaRiviere continues to pursue the very essence of Mind-control. Why, even at this moment he is right behind you, as you read these very words. His fingers reach
into the creepy depths of your most primitive, reptilian brain with a cold
shudder, and proceed to tap-out the value of your “trigger card.” It’s no
use: plead “guilty,” do your time, don’t bother telling the judge you don’t
remember... after all, why bother to deny a firmly grasped smoking gun?
Cindy Baker: Unassuming but
successful interdisciplinary and
performance artist by day (as alter
egos are wont to be), Cindy Baker
has only recently allowed it to be
revealed that over the past two “human decades,” she has in fact been
active as one of the world’s most
inimitable double agents in the field
of psychic espionage. Dedicated to
maintaining the purity of her motivations, Baker has staunchly refused to
“go professional” in her field, taking on the work that she is so passionate
about on purely a volunteer basis, making her comfortable living through
the contemporary artwork which she is better-known by the general public for. This career in espionage, obviously, decimated by her decision to
go public, Baker is now pursuing a new vocation in sensitivity training, a
sort of legitimate version of the notorious ‘sensitive’ Chip Coffey, guiding
gifted children to develop their psychic, sensitive, and telekinetic abilities.
Having been herself trained since infancy in the very formalized military
complex now scorned as the narrow-minded “goat-staring” school, Baker
is dedicated to the creation of a new, mind-expanding academy of psychic
arts and sciences.
66
Perhaps it was the brutal mental punishment meted out by the establishment
for her insistence on using her powers “for good”, (even in her elementary
school days when she read the kindergarteners’ futures in exchange for donating their milk money to select children’s charities) that forged Cindy’s
path as a double agent. Perhaps it was her deep innate understanding of
the wrong-headedness of the traditional North American school of psychic
thought. Perhaps. And yet we are left wondering how it could be that this
paragon of virtue has ended up a member of the powerfully dark triumvirate of psychic mastery that is the Malevenia Analysticians. Perhaps the
possession of such incredible knowledge has bent her capacity for empathy. Perhaps the rest of the world cannot fully comprehend the massive role
that this group must play within our universe. Or perhaps there is much yet
to be learned about Cindy Baker, her complex web of motivations, and all
that she is capable of.
Megan Morman: As a child in rural
Minnesota, yearning for acceptance
and searching for answers to the terrifying powers threatening to overwhelm her, Megan Morman turned
to the world of High-IQ Societies:
Mensa, Intertel, & ISPE. Though
amusing, she soon grew tired of their
puniness -- but not before discovering the writings of Crowley, Blavatsky, and famous Freemason Sebastian
S. Kresge (founder of K-mart).
Now an adult, Morman has been relying on unassuming AIDS charity
work as a guise, busying her body with mundane actions such as running
up and down the stairs, and pretending not to know how to fix the photocopier. Have you ever wondered how Megan recruits so many volunteers?
Wonder no more.
Who could have guessed that this shy, nerdy fat girl, during her copious
free mental CPU cycles, was strategizing and orchestrating objectivist
campaigns against both her former State and the individuals who stand in
the way of her meteoric contemporary art career. In securing victory for her
teammates, ‘By Any Means Necessary’ is Morman’s vow... and she takes
her vows very seriously.
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Mazana Rojo
We are interested...we think you already know that!
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Manzana Rojo
Yoko Shimada is an multidisciplinary artist
working in drawing and voice. She is a talented
amateur psychic with ancestral lines back to the
Mayan King, “Double Comb”. Relying on the aid
of her many spirit animals, she is able to harness
energy from her relationship with a direct line of
Mayan Shamans.
Wren Katzalay is an artist and ghost
magnet. As a child she could often be
found playing with her, “imaginary
friends” and was a child prodigy in levitating. She comes from a long line of
Ukrainian healers and is a shape-shifter
and practising witch. She always knows
when the telephone is about to ring!
Kiwi Katz, While highly
unmotivated and a pacifist
by nature, is able, by tapping into his feline telepathic
abilities, to make food appear at will.
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Les Médiums Littéraires
Calling on both French and Québécois literary spirits who parted with the canon of purely realistic modes of representation
to flirt with the supernatural, our team’s mission is to channel
those spirits who we deem sympathetic to our telekinetic project and therefore wish to engage with us in the manipulation
of the candle flame. With Baudelaire’s unusual use of bold and
scandalous poetic themes, Maupassant’s distinct ability to cleverly combine realism and fantasy and Nelligan’s passionate,
almost desperate love of both French poetry and prose, we feel
that they may be the most willing and telekinetically inclined
participants to embark on this psychic journey with us. The energy of six, both living and dead to guide the flame, we are well
poised to be front running contenders in the upcoming WTC.
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Ann-Marie Hansen a.k.a. Charles
‘The Spleen’ Baudelaire has been developing her telekinetic techniques
since uncovering an unusually affective affinity, that is to say one of the
trans-substantive type and apparently
reciprocated, with the renowned 19th
century French poet Charles Baudelaire. This so-called happy coincidence coincided with her convincing but
unconventional start in the study of the melancholic sub-category that is
‘spleen’ as a major thematic element in French literature. This inspired
relationship could not but be proven both productive and worth protecting.
It is thus through thinking communication with the spirit of the great
melancholic (the original Baudelaire), who would oft have worked with
moody candlelight cast by a lonely wick, that she aspires to aid in influencing the innermost indigo of the famous flame during the upcoming world
championship matches. Charles long being freed from his fleshly form is
able to aptly affect such forces as the fiery flickering of candlelight, all that
remains is for this capacity to be called into concentrated action by our
magnificent ‘médium littéraire’.
As a native of Montréal, it seemed but
natural for Marie Markovic to further
explore her connection with the romantic poet émile Nelligan, also born
and raised in Québec’s metropolis...
quite a few decades before her.
In famous Carré Saint-Louis, Nelligan’s bronze head gazes at the house of his childhood. The passerby is reminded through this metallic stare that Nelligan’s mind never made it long
past a young age: after writing some of Quebec’s most celebrated verses
in his twenties, the poet was committed to a mental institution, where he
existed, absently, for an additional 40 years.
71
Being half Yugoslav as well, Marie finds resonance in such a dramatic fate,
and she is confident that the ill soul of an insane poet will be a powerful
addition to the team.
Once upon a time, there lived a little
girl named Aimie Shaw in a notso-faraway-land, who was happy to
spend her days thinking of carnival
laughter, authorial resurrections and
the paradoxes of literary reception.
She was a very happy girl, but was
never quite fulfilled for she longed to
be reconnected with Guy de Maupassant, with whom she’d had a brief but
passionate encounter so many years before. Hence, she valiantly embarked
on her journey with but the Pléiade to guide her, in search of her one true
inspiration. Alas, 3 sleepless years passed, and she began to draw weary for
as hard as she tried, she found no one but classicists and formalists. One
day, as she sat weeping amongst the library bookstacks, a wise old artisan
appeared and whispered in her ear: “may the literary spirits guide you to
the light”. Unsure what this meant, she (as any young princess would do)
googled the phrase. She immediately stumble on the WTC call for submissions, the path to destiny was hers to follow. Reconnected at last, she spent
the remainder of her days sitting near the flickering flame, (her Pléiade in
hand), as she channelled the energy of Maupassant and lived happily ever
after.
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Monster Psionics League
The members of the Monster Psionics League were united
telepathically during a shared alien abduction experience. The
Monster Psionics League credit this extra-terrestrial influence
as the source of their now fearsome telekinetic powers. The
MPL promote their talents through the entertainment industry,
touring their traveling medicine show to the coves and inlets of
their island home every summer. Team members are currently
in training, preparing for the World Telekinesis Competition.
Their daily regimen includes merging complex beer drinking
games with intensive mental exercises.
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Gzorak the Alien Beard: As a 12000
year old extra-terrestrial symbiote of
uncertain origin, Gzorak has been living
vicariously through earthlings for almost
five thousand years. Gzorak has had
several famous hosts including ancient
Persian religious figure Zoroaster, and
more recently, the “Mad Monk” Vladamir Rasputin. Now residing on the chin
of an otherwise unremarkable children’s
entertainer named Pete, Gzorak plans to
enhance the latent telekinetic potential
of his host in order to achieve previously unheard of levels of Psionic ability. This is its first competition, and it is very optimistic. It likes to play
Cribbage and Yahtzee, and has a penchant for microbrewed hop beverages,
from which it occasionally gets itself covered in froth.
Liz Solo: Liz’s is working in multiple dimensions and specializes in
manifesting psychic energy balls and
utilizing advanced telepathological
social engineering techniques.
Burt Everest: Burt concentrates on focusing
the invisible energy from his posterior orifice
to influence objects, the atmosphere and even
people. Also has the ability to cast fireballs.
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Team Overmind
The Overmind is the meta-entity that emerges when minds interact en masse. This year three abstract concepts have been
elected to represent Team Overmind at the WTC. They are
Zero, One and Two.Each of these concepts acts as a conductor
to the primordial energies of Mind, focusing them on the Game
at hand.
Those who oppose the Overmind, beware; even your best attempts at battle may be turned against you.
75
Team Overmind
Zero (aka. None, Nothingness)
Existing before, after, and throughout all that
is, None is the great Mother of time itself.
One (aka. All, Everything)
The totallity of reality.
Two (aka. Many, Each)
Division, reflection, multiplication, evolution. Two is the bridge between the archetype
and the manifest.
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Plasmavatar Metaverse TK ®
Plasmavatar Metaverse TK ® is a trio of psychic avatars
practicing in the virtual reality platform Second Life. Adept
at telematic communication, Bingo Onomatopoeia, Humming
Pera and Carolhyn Wijaya collaborate together in the Avatar
Orchestra Metaverse, a virtual reality band of globally dispersed audio artists, media artists, musicians, composers, visual
artists and other merry makers. Although Bingo, Humming and
Carolhyn play beautiful music together regularly, their human
counterparts have never met in the visceral world. They instead
employ mental telepathy and plasmatic listening and soundmaking as their means of connection with each other and their
audiences, making them a forceful entry in this year’s Telekinesis competition.
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Plasmavatar Metaverse TK ®
Bingo Onomatopoeia, known as a member of the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is
usually interested in moving audiences
through his sound-art, but has, after extensive studies in related art-forms like ancient
chinese pyrotechnics, martial praying and
power-shopping, decided to enhance his
performances in a more subtle manner. His
works readjust the listener’s complete bioprogram into transcosmic transponderfish entities, affecting kinetic energy to television units and thus
allowing a new perspective. “Throw up, turn off, throw out” is a mantra
that guides the way towards a new age with open windows, fresh air and
a surplus RC.
Humming Pera is an avatar investigating
notions of music, identity, performance and
collaboration on the virtual reality platform
Second Life. Humming is a member of the
Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, Odyssey Art
and Performance and World Peace Jammers. She has performed with the Avatar
Orchestra at events screened in Europe and
North America, and curated performance events where Second Life and
First Life intersect. Humming’s First Life persona is a composer, improviser and new music / sound art curator.
Carolhyn Wijaya is a musician, concert
promoter and avatar for peace in the virtual world of Second Life. Carolhyn is a
member of Gamelan Tunas Mekar, the first
professional gamelan orchestra to perform
in SL. She is also co-producer of Earthdance Mystical Mastery Island in SL, and
is co-owner of Sonorant VR2L Media, a
new company bringing music and media to
virtual worlds. Carolhyn performs regularly with Avatar Orchestra Metaverse, an international performance ensemble presenting sound, visuals
and movement in the context of overlapping realities. Carolhyn’s real life
avatar watches all this with interest and wonders where it will lead.
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The Psychic Amateurs
The Psychic Amateurs team is comprised of three deceased
members who practise Telekinesis from the grave. Johannes,
Bucky and Roger have been working together for a number of
decades but have not yet had the chance to participate in a competition. The members wish to express their gratitude to Noxious Sector for organizing the Telekinesis games.
79
Johannes Gutenberg (b. February 3, 1468) was
a German goldsmith and printer, who is credited
with inventing movable type printing in Europe
(c. 1439) and mechanical printing globally. His
major work, the Gutenberg Bible, also known as
the 42-line bible, has been acclaimed for its high
aesthetic and technical quality. Among the specific contributions to printing that are attributed to
Gutenberg are the design of metal movable type,
the invention of a process for making such type in quantity (mass production), the use of oil-based ink, and the use of a wooden printing press
similar to the screw olive and wine presses of the period. His truly epochal
invention was the combination of these elements into a practical system.
Gutenberg may have been familiar with printing; it is claimed that he had
worked on copper engravings with an artist known as the Master of the
Playing Cards. Gutenberg’s method for making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mould for casting
type. It should be noted that new research may indicate that standardised
moveable type was a more complex evolutionary process spread over multiple locations.
Bucky Fleur (b. 1893) Paris and educated in
London, invested a great deal of time and money
learning Arabic and other languages, which would
be her tools of discovery. Living to the age of 100,
she devoted her life to the art of solo travel, writing two dozen highly personal travel books. Her
passion was the Middle East, and her purpose was
to explore these antique lands before, as one biographer wrote, they were “irretrievably caught up
in the cacaphonic whirl of the modern world.” In 1928, at age 35, Stark established herself at the forefront of exploration with an audacious journey
into forbidden territory of the Syrian Druze. While there, she was thrown
in a military prison, but not before a trek across the infamous Valley of
the Assassins, where a heretical sect of Muslims known for committing
political and religious murders lived. The resulting book, The Valley of the
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Assassins (1934), established her recognizable style, combining practical
travel advice with a lively commentary on the people, places, customs, and
history of Iran. The book also brought her money and fame, in addition to
grants from the Royal Geographical Society to pursue additional explorations.
Roger (b. April 26, 1889) was the youngest of eight
children, born into one of the most prominent and
wealthy families in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
His father’s parents were born into Jewish families
but later converted to Protestantism, and after
they moved from Saxony to Vienna in the 1850s,
assimilated themselves into the Viennese Protestant
professional classes. Until 1903, Roger was
educated at home; after that, he began three years
of schooling at the Realschule in Linz, a school emphasizing technical topics.
Although many of Roger’s notebooks, papers, and lectures have
been published since his death, he published only one philosophical
book in his lifetime, the Psychic Amateur’s Treatise in 1921. Roger’s
early work was deeply influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer, and by
the new systems of logic put forward by Bertrand Russell and Gottlob
Frege. He was also influenced by the ideas of Immanuel Kant, especially
in relation to transcendentality. When the Psychic Amateur’s Treatise was
published, it was taken up as a major influence by the Vienna Circle
positivists. However, Roger did not consider himself part of that school
and alleged that logical positivism involved grave misunderstandings of
the Treatise.
81
The Pythons: PSI Division
The Pythons: PSI Division is a subsidiary of The Pythons softball team. By combining the awesome power of its three most
telekinetically talented members, The Pythons will crush the
minds and balls of their opponents, on or off the field. When
the take their competitive positions in the three upper points of
a special diamond shaped arrangement, no challenger can break
through their psychic blockade.
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The Pythons: PSI Division
Miles Collyer: I am Miles and keeper of the
secrets of The Python. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft
my magic bat and said... By the power of the
Pythons!
Alynne Lavigne: Alynne enjoys
drawing without looking at the
paper and taking pictures with
things that are not cameras. More
recently she has taken to phoning
it in.
Andrew Waite: Andrew’s primary
power is his psychic link and symbiotic
relationship with his unique and fearless
friend Muma, the Mighty Battle Cat. A
variant of Muma has been discovered
in the wild. It lacks a nose, has thick,
flowing “hair”, and large, yellow eyes
with red irises. It projects frightening
screeching and wailing noises, as well
as creepy, sobbing cries, at enemy’s it
encounters.
83
Team Rock Can Roll
Team Rock Can Roll will kick your ass. We will rock can read
your thoughts. We will rock can blow your mind.
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Team Rock Can Roll
Ekim Baum channels psychic power from multiple
sources, including Rock Can
Roll animal familiar, Lady
Clementine.
Lill Loll is an inter-dimensional being who manifests
in multiple forms in virtual
reality.
JenSkywalker Nightfire is
an avatar currently in training
as a Jedi Master.
85
Team Rose Quartz
As team captain, Lisa Smolkin will administer *flower essences to all
team members pre-competition in attempt to balance everyone’s energies
thereby turning the team into mere vessels of light. This will involve me
travelling on the Toronto Subway with a treasure chest of tiny glass bottles
(the flower remedies) several days before actual competion to one of Team
Rose Quartz’s homes, interviewing for the appropriate remedies and then
administering them.
The day of competition Team Rose Quartz will meet up and attempt to
have a lot of fun. This will happen by karaoke. If you have ever seen Shary
Boyle do karaoke (Sharyoke) then you will know why it will be fun. Sonja
as well. But mostly it is the female trinity synergy that is fun.
fun-having --------> winning telekinesis competition.
We will attempt to prove my thesis of having fun makes people winners
and attracts positive events(see the movie Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains 1981.) In addition there will be a proprietary Team Rose Quartz
element to competing that I am not at liberty to share with you.
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Team Rose Quartz
Where normally we might eschew competition, finding more purpose and
meaning in friendly, supportive matriarchal structures and contexts this
contest sounds like a challenge in the dark arts which we will not pass up.
Contingency team plan: in the case that one of our art star team members
is working out of town during our competition we will “pre-record” our
karaoke/fun-having and save the energy for competiton time. perhaps in a
bottle or beaker.
*homeopathic doses of medicinal flowers proven for healing
Sonja Ahlers is a ‘gypsy roller’ like an
april wine song cruising around making her
art and paying attention to details. she is a
published bookmaker and has exhibited her
visual art internationally. she also makes
bunnies as a day job and does design work
when she feels like it and is currently working on two more books.
Shary Boyle is a visual artist, comedian and
funk dancer living in the biggest city closest
to her birth place of Scarborough, Ontario. A
frequent flyer, she is the youngest of five so
always working to transcend to the next level.
Lisa Smolkin is a princess with a technicolour
dreamcoat. Her drawing style is quick with the
focus being on colour and emotion. She resides in
Toronto and sustains herself with health food, the
sears wish book, and the noticing of interpersonal dynamics. She publishes a newsletter online
which you can find at: www.lisasmolkin.com.
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Shim Sham Shimmy Sham Shim Shammy Shim Sham
Hi everybody! We are Shim-Sham-Shimmy-Sham-ShimShammy-Shim-Sham, from Guelph, Ontario. We don’t farm,
we dance, you understand! We are the number one dance crew
in Guelph (and surrounding region). We are practitioners of
biomusico-hydrodynamico-physical entrainment, a technique
of our devising allowing us to hypothesize, synchronize, and
manipulatize the oscillating frequencies of diverse materials
with our signature rhythms
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Shim Sham Shimmy Sham Shim Shammy Shim Sham
Erin Fraser:
Classically trained muscle.
Nadja Pelkey:
Street credibility.
Ryan Park:
Fax machine operator.
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Tactical Tape Loop Division
TTLD remains disappointed by last year’s results. Particularly, the failure
of deceased members Konstantine Raudive (1906-1974), a student of Carl
J¸ng, who explored the ‘voices of the dead’ in what he called ‘Electronic
Voice Phenomenon’ (EVP), and William S. Burroughs (1914-1997), who
also investigated the unconscious properties of language that control the
brain, has led to their expulsion from TTLD’s EVP Unit. In their absence,
TTLD welcomes the new and alive although distant member Celine Beyond (b. late 20th century; not yet deceased). Beyond, who is a trained psychotherapist, mystic, and holder of a Mark Master in the Arts, adheres to
the principle of air-current psychosis brought about by high levels of infectious sound (“noise”). To this effect, she has joined forces with remaining
and sole dictatorial member tobias c. van Veen to generate brutal assaults
of savage soul-noise. TTLD will prevail under the following:
1. The movement of air currents are capable of causing a candle to quiver
or waver. Air currents are the providence of the breath of the dead. The
spirits of the deceased traverse the River Styx as souls of air. In Sanskrit,
prana; in Greek, psyche or the pneuma of the aura; in Latin, the animus
and spiritus of being. Gathering the spirits of the dead -- their disembodied
voices -- into a wind capable of influencing a candle’s flame demonstrates
the telekinetic power of the beyond.
90
2. While in 2008 TTLD sought to (re)animate the actual souls of the dead
themselves, this year TTLD focuses on high-output noise as the physical
movement of air into the reception of the psyche itself. Savage noise hysically affects the psychic balance. As the dead are unreliable at best, TTLD
now focuses upon noise itself as a mechanism of soul-control.
3. To this end, in 2009 TTLD seeks not merely to extinguish or inflame
the candle during the competition, but to overtake the souls of the Noxious
Sector themselves, forcing them, under extreme noise duress on a psychic
level, to rig the competition in our favour.
Celine Beyond, b. late 20th century, abides in Montréal where she
studies psychoanalysis and practices
psychotherapy. Beyond’s sonic projects include Dreamcatcher, Death
Drive and Wonder Years, and she is
also a secret shadow puppeteer in
the troupe known as Juanita Dark.
Beyond’s work has been showcased
at MUTEK, StudioXX and in minds
worldwide, and she is the inheritor of the dual-death drive reel-to-reel machines capable of raising the dead.
[tobias c. van Veen], b. 1978 under the black
flag of the sonic arts. After Montréal, now
lives in a small West Coast hamlet. Technoturntablist, writer & artist. Since 1993 he has
instigated conceptual and sound-art events,
online interventions and radio broadcasts.
He has sonic and mix releases on No Type’s
BricoLodge and the and/OAR labels. From
1993-2000 he was Direktor of the sonic
performance Collective [shrumtribe.com].
Co-founder of technoWest.org with Dave
Baphomet, controltochaos.ca with DJ FISHcontinued on next page... 91
EAD and thisistheonlyart.com with artist ssiess. From 2002-2007 Director
of UpgradeMTL [upgrademtl.org] and Concept Engineer at the Society for
Arts and Technology [SAT.qc.ca]. Currently doctoral candidate in Philosophy & Communication Studies at McGill University. Writes on the philosophy of technology and AfroFuturism -- though perpetually distracted
by renegade soundsystems & turntable piracy. His latest exhibition, ‘espaceSONO :: audio.lab’, presented 36 global sound-artists in a uniquely
constructed listening environment at the SAT[GALERIE] in Fall 2007.
His next publication, an edited volume tentatively titled Afrofuturism: Interstellar Transmissions from Remix Culture, is forthcoming from Wayne
State UP, 2010. He also mixes a mean absynthe martini. www.quadrantcrossing.org/blog.
William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914
(1914-02-05) - August 2, 1997; pronounced
/’bʌroʊz/), more commonly known as William
S. Burroughs was an American novelist, philosopher, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken
word performer. Much of Burroughs’ work is
semi-autobiographical, drawn from his experiences as an opiate addict, a
condition that marked the last fifty years of his life. A primary member of
the Beat Generation, he was an avantgarde author who affected popular
culture as well as literature. In 1984, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Dr. Konstantin Raudive (1906-1974). Dr. Raudive
was born in Latvia and later became a student of
Carl Jüng. He then went on to be a psychologist
who taught at the University of Uppsala in Sweden. He studied parapsychology all his life, and
was especially interested in the possibility of life
after death. He and German parapsychologist Hans Bender investigated
Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). He published a book on EVP, Breakthrough in 1971. Dr. Raudive was a scientist as well as a practising Roman
Catholic.
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Thinking About Moving (T.A.M.)
I am actually speaking for the entire team when I insist that
we are fully and completely into the idea of masses of groups
of people across the world attempting telekinesis together, in
a competitive manner. We believe in the power of the mind
and more specifically, our minds against other minds. This belief is really all that is necessary for us to win this thing. Our
minds are strong strong, especially in tandem, just you watch.
Our training regime has been rigorous and focussed, and we
look forward to putting it to good use, on a weekend in May or
June of 2009. More than likely we shall share cake that evening
to fuel our telekinesis efforts. Mandi, Jakob and I are pleased
to take part in such a phenomenal event. Anymind can bend a
spoon, but who can prove it?
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Thinking About Moving (T.A.M.)
Toronto-based graphic designer Jakob Rehlinger is a co-host of the podcast Nerd
Hurdles. He harbours a healthy skepticism
regarding the paranormal.
Mandi Hardy (or Ms. Terion) is a
thoughtfully kinetic person. She likes cats
and might be a wizard. She might also not
be a wizard.
Claire Voyante (aka Shara Rosko) has always been able to read the minds of certain
humans and the odd animal, to a frighteningly accurate degree. She tries not to let it go to
her head. She lives in Toronto.
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Triceratops
It is not in the nature of Triceratops to play fair. The team combines the paleolithic occult powers of a professional sadist, a
vagrant con artist, and a disgraced cosmonaut. All players are
skilled in controlling the movement, speed and temperature of
objects remotely, and alternately turn their concentrations to
telepathically attacking the abilities and confidence of the opposing team. Triceratops mounts a psychic assault as synchronised and untraceable as it is devious.
95
Triceratops
Kel (real identity unknown) is a talented telepathic
con artist who roamed the rail network of Eastern
Australia for the past decade scamming tourists
and cheating at cards. Kel recently assumed the
identity of an ‘emerging’ artist, and is currently
using her abilities to grift contemporary arts organisations for funding, accommodation and travel
grants. She will be deployed between the Northern
and Southern Hemispheres during 2009.
Mistress de Syphilis is widely known in the
Southern Hemisphere for her successful domination of many famous names in the Astrophysic and
Psychic fields. She advises her competitors to prepare for the irresistible mental pain she will exact
from them. Mistress de Syphilis has relocated her
activities to the Northern Hemisphere for the competition, where she will bring fresh psychic blood
to the team.
Ludmila has been officially declared to be missing, believed dead, after what is believed to be
the sound of her last heartbeats was recorded on
a Soyuz mission that was lost in space in 1962.
However, recent sightings of a person resembling Ludmila in various locations in the Southern
Hemisphere have been confirmed by reports that
an unidentified spacecraft re-entered the earth’s atmosphere in mysterious circumstances before crashing into the Southern
Ocean. Ludmila is believed to have lost one her legs during the re-entry.
Although refusing to speak, or otherwise communicate, Ludmila has demonstrated that she can join forces with like spirits and has therefore joined
the team Triceratops to bring her legendary talents of psychic kinesis to
their mission of world domination. Ludmila remains in the Southern Hemisphere where her psychic kinetic lines of force are untraceable.
96
Team Team Lucid Redundancy Dream Shepherds
Shepherds have it good. They spend most of their time in sunny fields.
They have easy access to meat and cheese. They only shave in shearing
season. They are lazy, just like us! We intend to influence the game candle
by entering the candle’s dream, in our sleep, when we are most idle. We
will infiltrate the “dreamscape” using lucid dream technology and alter the
candle’s mood with mystical mood rings granted to us by GandalfBikerSanta, our team vision quest advisor.
The three of us were summoned to a far corner of the “dreamscape” by
Lord Morphius Pubar Bellybutton GandalfBikerSanta III. There he instructed us in the art of active, lucid “dreaming”, imparting upon the team
stern wisdom such as “ONLY SHEEP COUNT SHEEP.” He encouraged
us to become Dream Shepherds and vanquish his adversary Steve using
our mind/mood altering mood rings and by boldly controlling real world
objects by manipulating mental effluvia on the harsh battleground of the
“dreamscape”. The rings were quality, but the quest sounded too taxing for
our slovenly West Coast lifestyle, so we peaced out of the “dreamscape”
and now use our new skills to win shiny, shiny trophies.
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Team Team Lucid Redundancy Dream Shepherds
Alpha member BFF Bukowsky.
Special Power: Tactical Governance, Heavy LIfting. Power Stone:
Beryl.
Beta member Blahdia Darling.
Special Power: the Hacker. Power
Stone: Opal.
Kappa member Edna Saucebottom.
Special Power: Heart. Power Stone:
Ashphalt.
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Unconstrained Growth Into the Void (Team 1)
We would like to express our interest in this competition as a preexisting collective, Unconstrained Growth Into the Void. Our interests and intentions are outlined below and give an indication
of how participation in the 2009 World Telekinesis Competition
will exist parallel to our current lines of inquiry. According to the
structure of this competition we will temporarily split into two
teams, UGIV 1 and UGIV 2, though our ultimate allegiance to
each other will remain unbroken.
99
***
Unconstrained Growth Into the Void
A Six-Sided Figure, Sum of the Following Parts:
Matthew Alex Crookshank
Rafael Arturo Rodriguez Cruz
Miruna Roxana Dragan
Jason Dale de Haan
Erika Ann Marie Kierulf
Meghann Junell Riepenhoff
***
While occupying a space on Sleeping Buffalo Mountain, where five seismic faults converge, and contemplating the impact of cosmic rays, Unconstrained Growth Into the Void was formed. During this process time was
disrobed of its linear properties and UGIV experienced the reverberations
of life’s greatest questions.
***
Unconstrained Growth Into the Void proposes a bending of the fundamental principles of time, landscape, histories and space. Seeking to take advantage of our collective energies, we understand these actions as limitless
in their ability to bridge cognitive gaps, create alternative narratives and
discern the poetries of our activities, our persons, our universe. Mathematical principles, pseudo-scientific methods, innate understandings, un/relational forces and archetypal mythologies underlie this exploration, as we
endeavor to search, to understand, to propose and to accept. Unconstrained
Growth Into the Void allows coincidence to be a determining factor and has
no problem recognizing it in the most mundane. It comes to us and we to it.
***
In earnestness, UGIV converge to yield to the wills of centres of power,
teleportation, levitation, mutation, metamorphosis, translinear thought,
telepathy, pattern, chaos, and geometry, while at the same time bending
them to ours. We share optimism in the potential of creative activity and
are compelled to realize that potential in forms that are active, enigmatic,
poetic, epic, numinous and beautiful.
100
Rafael Rodríguez is an architect who has
been dedicated to the visual arts since 1998.
His work has been presented in museums and
galleries in Mexico, the United Kingdom,
Canada, the United States, Spain, Sweden,
and Austria. In 2006, his series of paintings
Models for a selfportrait was presented at the
National Portrait Gallery in London, which
won second place for the gallery’s annual
prize. His portraits often try to represent the
affection that the human face both simultaneously reflects and tries to hold back.
Matt Crookshank is a painter and a video
artist who has been exhibiting regularly for
8 years. His practice bleeds from digital to
painting, blending each practice and sharing
ideas and techniques throughout. For 6 years,
Matt was the curator and director of the
groundbreaking Toronto Gallery, sis boom
bah (www.sisboombah.ca). Opened in what
was to become Toronto’s leading contemporary art district on Queen St. W., Matt used
the sis boom bah vehicle to grow a community of like-minded artists, which became an
integral part of this dynamic neighbourhood.
Jason de Haan is a multidisciplinary artist
living and working in Calgary. His work
concerns itself with the conceptual, poetic
and absurd, often manifesting itself as a combination in the forms of sculpture, installation, performance, drawing and bookworks.
His projects maintain a desire to achieve the
positive.
101
We would like to express our interest in this competition as a
pre-existing collective, Unconstrained Growth Into the Void.
Our interests and intentions are outlined below and give an
indication of how participation in the 2009 World Telekinesis
Competition will exist parallel to our current lines of inquiry.
According to the structure of this competition we will temporarily split into two teams, UGIV 1 and UGIV 2, though our
ultimate allegiance to each other will remain unbroken.
***
102
Unconstrained Growth Into the Void
A Six-Sided Figure, Sum of the Following Parts:
Matthew Alex Crookshank
Rafael Arturo Rodriguez Cruz
Miruna Roxana Dragan
Jason Dale de Haan
Erika Ann Marie Kierulf
Meghann Junell Riepenhoff
***
While occupying a space on Sleeping Buffalo Mountain, where five seismic faults converge, and contemplating the impact of cosmic rays, Unconstrained Growth Into the Void was formed. During this process time was
disrobed of its linear properties and UGIV experienced the reverberations
of life’s greatest questions.
***
Unconstrained Growth Into the Void proposes a bending of the fundamental principles of time, landscape, histories and space. Seeking to take advantage of our collective energies, we understand these actions as limitless
in their ability to bridge cognitive gaps, create alternative narratives and
discern the poetries of our activities, our persons, our universe. Mathematical principles, pseudo-scientific methods, innate understandings, un/relational forces and archetypal mythologies underlie this exploration, as we
endeavor to search, to understand, to propose and to accept. Unconstrained
Growth Into the Void allows coincidence to be a determining factor and has
no problem recognizing it in the most mundane. It comes to us and we to it.
***
In earnestness, UGIV converge to yield to the wills of centres of power,
teleportation, levitation, mutation, metamorphosis, translinear thought,
telepathy, pattern, chaos, and geometry, while at the same time bending
them to ours. We share optimism in the potential of creative activity and
are compelled to realize that potential in forms that are active, enigmatic,
poetic, epic, numinous and beautiful.
103
Erika Kierulf is a Montreal-born
visual artist who works in video,
photography, and installation. She
completed an MFA in photography
at Concordia University (Montreal)
In 2007. Concerned with issues of
intimacy and the banal, she explores
psychological and physical states of
between-ness.
Atlanta-born artist Meghann Riepenhoff
earned her BFA in Photography from the
University of Georgia and her MFA from
the San Francisco Art Institute. She has lectured with the San Francisco Photo Alliance,
teaches at the San Francisco Art Institute and
Rayko Photo Center, and is the studio assistant for Michael Light. Her photographic
work considers the repurposing of objects in
order to create dynamic c-print photograms
that speak to the complex biological and
emotional systems of reactions.
A dual citizen of Romania and The US,
Miruna Dragan works in multidisciplinary
forms often presented as a gesamtkunstwerk.
Concerned with irrational topics such as nostalgia, ecstasy, mystery and mysticism, her
works are conceptual, poetic icons self-conscious of the powerful futility of a romantic
search while navigating through surreal, absurd, and numinous waters.
104
Organizer & Curator Profiles
Noxious Sector Arts Collective
2009 World Telekinesis Competition: Organizer / Curator Profile
Noxious Sector is a formalized forum for informal inquiry.
Dedicated to the exploration of questions of the imaginative,
the paranormal and the absurd, Noxious Sector attempts to
redefine the meaning of artistic possibility through extended
propositions that challenge consensual norms while also provoking stimulating forums for dialogue and discourse. Noxious
Sector projects take the form of performances, curatorial initiatives and artistic collaborations. Noxious Sector founding
members are Canadian artists Ted Hiebert, Doug Jarvis and
Jackson 2bears. Past and current projects can be seen online at
www.noxioussector.net
The 2009 World Telekinesis Competition was organized by
Noxious Sector members Ted Hiebert and Doug Jarvis.
106
Noxious Sector Arts Collective
Ted Hiebert is a Canadian visual artist and theorist. His artworks have been shown across Canada in pubic galleries and artist-run centres, and in
group exhibitions internationally. Recent exhibition venues include The New Gallery (Calgary,
AB), the Comox Valley Art Gallery (Courtenay,
BC) and the Siauliaia Art Gallery (Lithuania).
Recent collaborative projects include “Electronic
Shamanism” with Jackson 2bears (InterAccess
Electronic Arts, Toronto, ON) and “Dowsing
for Failure” with Doug Jarvis (Open Space Artist Run Centre, Victoria, BC). Hiebert’s theoretical writings have appeared in, among others,
The Psychoanalytic Review, Technoetic Arts, Performance Research and
CTheory, as well as in exhibition catalogues and monographs. He is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts at the University of Washington
Bothell. www.tedhiebert.net
Doug Jarvis is a Canadian visual artist and curator living in Victoria, British
Columbia. His work has been shown
internationally as part of the avatar performance art group Second Front. He
has attended residencies at the Banff
Centre for the arts, presented at REFRESH: History of New Media conference, Interactive Futures, and Collisions. He has been an active member of
the Victoria arts community as a past board member of the Open Space
Arts Society and the Ministry of Casual Living. He is currently pursuing an
MFA at the University of Guelph, Ontario. www.dougjarvis.ca
107
When the occasion presents itself,
the Noxious Sector Arts Collective
(Doug Jarvis, Jackson 2bears and Ted
Hiebert) also engages in telekinetic
competitions or various sorts. In such
instances, Noxious Sector goes by the
team name Pacific Organization of
Telekinetics.
The Ministry of Casual Living is a registered non-profit society and a
member of the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres, exhibiting the
works of contemporary emerging and mid-career artists since 2002. Established to provide artists from all disciplines with an accessible venue
for experimentation, the MoCL is committed to promoting critical, selfreflective discourse, and integrating the artistic process into all aspects of
everyday life.
Contact
Gerry Gautier, Director/Curator
1442 Haultain Street
Victoria, BC, Canada V8R 2J9
Email [email protected]
108
Match Results
Tournament Board: Round 1
Match Results: Round One
Saturday May 30, 2009
Team Rose Quartz
vs
Referees’ decision: more wax on blue side of the board; brown team wins.
Team Rose Quartz advances to the next round.
Unconstrained Growth
Into the Void (Team 2)
vs
Three Generations of
Folk-Us
Three Generations of Folk-Us advances to the next round.
112
Team Rock Can Roll
vs
Manzana Rojo
Referees’ decision: more wax on brown side of the board; blue team wins.
Manzana Rojo advances to the next round.
Thinking About Moving
vs
Brain Elevating
Neurotransimissions
Thinknig About Moving advances to the next round.
113
Team Triceratops
vs
Barbarians of the
Third Hand
Team Triceratops advances to the next round.
vs
Les Médiums Literaires
Monster Psionics League advances to the next round.
114
Sunday May 31, 2009
Tactical Tape Loop
Division
vs
Brainal Leakage
Dynasty
Brainal Leakage Dynasty advances to the next round.
Team Team Lucid
Redundancy
vs
Baphomet
Team Team Lucid Redundancy advances to the next round.
115
Sunday May 31, 2009
Psychic Amateurs
vs
Eternal Ministry of
Art & Jump
Psychic Amateurs advance to the next round.
Shim Sham Shimmy
Sham Shim
vs
Center for
Paraspeculative Study
Center for Paraspeculative Study advances to the next round.
116
Sunday May 31, 2009
Unconstrained Growth
Into the Void (Team 1)
vs
536 Ministers of
the Ladder
536 Ministers of the Ladder advance to the next round.
The Pythons
vs
London United
Psychic Club
The Pythons advance to the next round.
117
vs
vs
118
vs
vs
119
Match Results: Round Two
Saturday June 6, 2009
Team Rose Quartz
vs
Three Generations of
Folk-Us
Team Rose Quartz advances to the next round.
Manzana Rojo
vs
The Malevenia
Analysticians
Manzana Rojo advance to the next round.
120
vs
Team Triceratops
Thinking About Moving advances to the next round.
vs
The Discriminating
Gentlemen’s Club
Monster Psionics League advances to the next round.
121
vs
Team Team Lucid
Redundancy
Brainal Leakage Dynasty advances to the next round.
Psychic Amateurs
vs
Team Overmind
Team Overmind advances to the next round.
122
Center for
vs
536 Ministers of
the Ladder
Tactical Tape Loop Division advances to the next round.
The Pythons
vs
Plasmavatar Metaverse
Plasmavatar Metaverse advances to the next round.
123
vs
vs
124
vs
vs
125
Match Results: Round Three
Sunday June 7, 2009
Team Rose Quartz
vs
Manzana Rojo
Team Rose Quartz advances to the Semi Finals.
vs Monster Psionics League
Thinking About Moving advances to the Semi Finals.
126
Match Results: Round Three
Sunday June 7, 2009
Brainal Leakage Dynasty vs
Team Overmind
Brainal Leakage Dynasty advances to the Semi Finals.
Center for
vs
Plasmavatar Metaverse
Center for Paraspeculative Study advances to the Semi Finals.
127
vs
vs
128
Tournament Board: Round 4 (Semi Finals)
vs
vs
129
Match Results: Round Four (Semi-Finals)
Team Rose Quartz
VS
Referees’ decision:
More wax on brown side of the board; blue team wins.
Thinking About Moving advances to the Finals.
Match Results: Round Four (Semi-Finals)
Center for
VS
More wax on blue side of the board; brown team wins.
Center for Paraspeculative Study advances to the Finals.
vs
vs
132
Tournament Board: Round 5 (Finals)
vs
vs
133
Match Results: Round Five (Finals)
Sunday June 14, 2009
VS
Center for Paraspeculative Study
Match Results: Round Five (Finals)
Sunday June 14, 2009
More wax on brown side of the board;
blue team wins.
Center for Paraspeculative Study
is the winner of the

to the 2009 World Telekinesis

Transcription

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